Kansas legislative leaders looking for a ‘path out’ to end session

Kansas House and Senate leaders are looking to wrap up the 2016 legislative session soon.

Late Thursday afternoon, Senate Republicans headed into a closed-door caucus to discuss, several senators said, polling data and the 2016 legislative election. And, as Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita said, “a path out.”

That would primarily mean determining what to do about the budget. Leadership on the House side said the House may work through the weekend. Members in both chambers want to be finished next week.

Lawmakers are struggling over how to address the state's $290 million budget shortfall. Rolling back the business income tax exemption was not one of the options recommended by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

The governor's options — an across-the-board spending cut, a bond sale of future tobacco settlement receipts or the delay of a payment to the state employees pension system — have all drawn opposition.